Part 3 of a series: Fake GM Mando’s offseason plan collects playmakers on offense
Remember when the Miami Dolphins wanted to trade for Jadeveon Clowney? It was 2019, after the team moved on from multiple starting players and just days before it would trade two outstanding former first-round draft picks.
Clowney was the biggest prize on the trade market at the time. So both coach Brian Flores and general manager Chris Grier hosted him at the team’s training facility to try to get him to come to Miami.
Clowney visited but ultimately wanted no part of the Dolphins because he saw what most everyone saw. He saw the Dolphins were about to be a bad team without him. Or with him.
So that effort was poorly timed.
But the idea was right.
The Dolphins aimed high at that moment. They were trying to add the most talented player at his position who was available.
And that makes a lot of sense for this team, particularly now.
Because now the timing is right. And the team is sorely lacking playmakers. It’s sorely lacking elite players at their positions — of which probably only cornerback Xavien Howard and kicker Jason Sanders qualify.
This team, like 30 others that didn’t win it all, has just witnessed how the Tampa Bay Buccaneers took what was a good nucleus of talent that was 7-9 in 2019, and became a Super Bowl champion in 2020.
They did it by finding the best available quarterback they could.
They did it by chasing talent at playmaker positions, like wide receiver, tight end and running back. They did it by being aggressive when reticence and caution would have been defensible.
Consider:
▪ The Bucs had outstanding wide receivers Chris Godwin, Mike Evans and Scotty Miller on the roster. They added Antonio Brown in October.
▪ The Bucs had their backfield rotation set with Ronald Jones II and LeSean McCoy. They signed Leonard Fournette when he was jettisoned by Jacksonville.
▪ The Bucs had Cameron Brate and O.J. Howard at tight end. They added Rob Gronkowski, anyway.
The Bucs understood that having some playmakers is good.
But having more is better.
And if that can raise a middling franchise like Tampa Bay to Super Bowl heights, then, as Vonnie Holliday once famously told me, “Why not us?”
So what would Fake GM Mando do if he was running the Dolphins this offseason?
You already know how I feel about the Deshaun Watson trade idea. That’s not what this column is about.
This one is what to do absent Watson because, again, at this point the Houston Texans have shown no indication they are definitely going to trade their quarterback. So what then?
I do what the Bucs did. I do what Hall of Famer Bill Polian did in 2001 when he had Marvin Harrison catching passes from Peyton Manning and drafted Reggie Wayne in the first round.
I spend a large majority of this offseason finding playmakers.
But before that I improve the offensive line. I try to sign Patriots center David Andrews to upgrade from Ted Karras while not seriously upsetting the team’s salary cap structure.
Had this been a typical year in which the salary cap rose, I would then sign a top veteran wide receiver. But as that’s no longer the reality with the cap because it’s going down instead of up, I apologize to all of Miami’s offensive coordinators and do without that move.
The Cincinnati Bengals run a mock draft on their team site, and Geoff Hobson, the team’s site reporter, compiles it by calling reporters he trusts from different cities. He called me to represent the Dolphins.
And with the No. 3 pick of the draft, I selected Alabama wide receiver DeVonta Smith.
So this is where the real NFL personnel people and coaches who read this space will send me texts because they mostly believe Ja’Marr Chase of LSU is a better prospect than Smith. At least that’s what several have hinted.
And I understand why. But I’m going with Smith because I’ve seen him play amid a pandemic, when teammate Jaylen Waddle went down with an injury, and when the stage was as big as it ever has been for the Crimson Tide.
And in those challenging circumstances Smith performed.
That’s more important than the fact he needs to add 15-20 pounds.
The Dolphins also have the No. 18 overall selection in the first round. And in the Bengals’ mock draft I selected Minnesota receiver Rashod Bateman.
Yes, everyone thinks that’s overdrafting Bateman. In the Bengals’ mock, he was the best available wide receiver remaining. So, yes, I’m going two wide receivers in the first round.
Fake GM Mando’s Dolphins are going to be able to throw the football.
Bateman reminds me of Michael Irvin. That comparable probably freaks out the 30-something armchair scouts so go back and watch Irvin and watch Bateman.
Neither is about elite speed but both have enough speed. Neither is imposing but both are big. Both could defeat man coverage, could find the right spots to sit down in zones, didn’t drop many passes and showed no fear in catching and running with the football.
In the second round I’m taking North Carolina running back Javonte Williams. He’s 5-10 and 220 pounds.
He runs with all the finesse of a fire hydrant.
Defenders bounce off him when he gets beyond the line of scrimmage. I don’t see him often tackled by one guy. And he’s both patient and decisive about picking his hole.
This kid hasn’t gotten the coverage that Alabama’s Najee Harris or Clemson’s Travis Etienne got. No worries.
Fake GM Mando’s Dolphins don’t sweat it when the media doesn’t agree.
The Dolphins currently have two second-round selections, and I also took Penn State tight end Pat Freiermuth in that round.
The Dolphins currently have Mike Gesicki as their emerging receiving tight end and Durham Smythe as their emerging blocking tight end. And each is working to improve on his weaknesses — with Gesicki wanting to block better and Durham becoming more effective in the passing game.
Except that Freiermuth is a combination of both. He’s like Adam Shaheen, only better. He’s a classic seam tight end who was dubbed “Baby Gronk” in Happy Valley.
And like Tampa Bay did with the real Gronk, Fake GM Mando’s Dolphins have no reservation about adding another good tight end, because tight ends are awesome.
More talent on offense is also awesome.
So is more playmakers.
Remember, more is better.
Part 1: Where Dolphins 2019 reset brought upgrades, where it didn’t
Part 2: What do the Dolphins plan to do now to achieve ‘sustained winning?’
This story was originally published February 11, 2021 at 12:00 AM.
